Nathan Stehly's grandmother, Lillian Stehly, was born February 7, 1919. She lived on a farm a little south of Whitehall until the age of 22, experiencing the whole of the 1920s on a farm as a middle class citizen. This is an interview with Lillian Stehly about the leisure activities that she participated in and knew of during the 1920s.
Lillian Stehly
"In general what were some of the major leisure activities that you participated in when you were a kid during the 1920s?"
"Well, lets see... One of the biggest things that I remember doing as a young kid was sitting in front of the fire every night and listening to the radio programs that would come on. Every night at quarter to seven Lowell Thomas, a newscaster, would come on and tell the general news, much like what is on television today. Actually he was generally more respected in what he said than many of the people are who are on TV today, we never believed that there was any slant in what he old, whether that was the case or not I don't know, but in my house what he said went as fact. Lowell Thomas was also good because he gave an opinion on everything he talked about. The Lone Ranger was also very important, it was one of the biggest excitements during the day, and that was on from 7:30 to 8:00."
"Did you listen to anything else on the radio?"
"Yes after Lowell went off at 7:00 we listened to Amus and Andy until 7:15. They were two comedians that were on five days a week, then on the weekend there would be different programing, but we didnt usually listen to it. My father also was a very big baseball fan, and whenever a baseball game was on the radio, he would sit down and listen to it unless he had something that could not wait until later, and at the end of the season, especially the last few games leading to the national championships, he wouldn't miss his baseball games for anything. Then from quarter after seven to 7:30 the Tasty Yeast Jestures. They were three men who sang in harmony, songs that sounded folksy. When they came on and signed off they sang a song about Tasty Yeast, yeast candy bars that tasted good and were supposed to be good for you. I even remember how the song went. 'Tasty yeast is tempting to the appetite. Creamy wholesome food, try a luscious bite. Vitamins are hiding in this candy bar. Health and vigor linger were they are. Children like this creamy wholesome candy, let them eat it daily every morning noon and night. Make this bar a habit, two or three each day! Taking yeast is dandy, this handy, candy way!' The radio had really been geared to entertain the family during that time, because you had the music and the news and the sports, like today, except that i was given in a more family friendly way."
"Did you play many sports when you were a kid?"
"Sometimes we would play baseball in the grass field next to our farming plot if we didn't have anything to do that day after we came home from school, but it was rare that we didn't have anything to do after we came home from school. So generally, we played baseball mostly on the weekends, or during the summer. We also watched a lot of baseball games when we had recess, because the factory houses for the factory workers that worked for the cement mill would go out and play games of baseball when they were on break. The girls would often play sports like tic-tac-toe, hopscotch, or jump rope. The jump rope often had chants that would go with it too, and a lot of these chants had to do with world happenings, often mocking big political figures that weren't doing what they should be doing. They were always light though and funny, it was really like a time of playfullness, when everyone was really happy. Oh, and we played bingo and card games like old maids when I was real young, and then rummy when I got a little bit older."
"Did you play any other sports, like football?"
"Ah, football did not really become all that popular until right before the great depression, right at the end of the 1920s, and our family generally played baseball more than football, because four out of the seven kids in our family were girls, and even though we were tomboys, we didn't like to play football. We felt it was too rough and too dirty of a sport for us."
"What did you do on the weekends?"
"Well, on Saturday nights we would often go into town and go to a movie theater to watch a movie, and see some of the national and world news, because Lowell did not cover all of the national happenings, he was only on for fifteen minutes and only focused on the more major happenings. We also walked around town, the pavements were filled with people, it was really the only night that many people went shopping. The people didn't stop shopping often until 10:00, although I know that you don't find that real late to be shopping, we did back then."
"And what about music and dance, did you listen to a lot of jazz music when you were young?"
"Jazz music was becoming very popular when I was young, but my family felt that it was not a good influence upon us children, my father in particular felt that it made women overly promiscuous with these extravagant dances that were coming out. There were many people I knew at school however, who listened to a lot of jazz and loved to dance very lively."
"In general what were some of the major leisure activities that you participated in when you were a kid during the 1920s?"
"Well, lets see... One of the biggest things that I remember doing as a young kid was sitting in front of the fire every night and listening to the radio programs that would come on. Every night at quarter to seven Lowell Thomas, a newscaster, would come on and tell the general news, much like what is on television today. Actually he was generally more respected in what he said than many of the people are who are on TV today, we never believed that there was any slant in what he old, whether that was the case or not I don't know, but in my house what he said went as fact. Lowell Thomas was also good because he gave an opinion on everything he talked about. The Lone Ranger was also very important, it was one of the biggest excitements during the day, and that was on from 7:30 to 8:00."
"Did you listen to anything else on the radio?"
"Yes after Lowell went off at 7:00 we listened to Amus and Andy until 7:15. They were two comedians that were on five days a week, then on the weekend there would be different programing, but we didnt usually listen to it. My father also was a very big baseball fan, and whenever a baseball game was on the radio, he would sit down and listen to it unless he had something that could not wait until later, and at the end of the season, especially the last few games leading to the national championships, he wouldn't miss his baseball games for anything. Then from quarter after seven to 7:30 the Tasty Yeast Jestures. They were three men who sang in harmony, songs that sounded folksy. When they came on and signed off they sang a song about Tasty Yeast, yeast candy bars that tasted good and were supposed to be good for you. I even remember how the song went. 'Tasty yeast is tempting to the appetite. Creamy wholesome food, try a luscious bite. Vitamins are hiding in this candy bar. Health and vigor linger were they are. Children like this creamy wholesome candy, let them eat it daily every morning noon and night. Make this bar a habit, two or three each day! Taking yeast is dandy, this handy, candy way!' The radio had really been geared to entertain the family during that time, because you had the music and the news and the sports, like today, except that i was given in a more family friendly way."
"Did you play many sports when you were a kid?"
"Sometimes we would play baseball in the grass field next to our farming plot if we didn't have anything to do that day after we came home from school, but it was rare that we didn't have anything to do after we came home from school. So generally, we played baseball mostly on the weekends, or during the summer. We also watched a lot of baseball games when we had recess, because the factory houses for the factory workers that worked for the cement mill would go out and play games of baseball when they were on break. The girls would often play sports like tic-tac-toe, hopscotch, or jump rope. The jump rope often had chants that would go with it too, and a lot of these chants had to do with world happenings, often mocking big political figures that weren't doing what they should be doing. They were always light though and funny, it was really like a time of playfullness, when everyone was really happy. Oh, and we played bingo and card games like old maids when I was real young, and then rummy when I got a little bit older."
"Did you play any other sports, like football?"
"Ah, football did not really become all that popular until right before the great depression, right at the end of the 1920s, and our family generally played baseball more than football, because four out of the seven kids in our family were girls, and even though we were tomboys, we didn't like to play football. We felt it was too rough and too dirty of a sport for us."
"What did you do on the weekends?"
"Well, on Saturday nights we would often go into town and go to a movie theater to watch a movie, and see some of the national and world news, because Lowell did not cover all of the national happenings, he was only on for fifteen minutes and only focused on the more major happenings. We also walked around town, the pavements were filled with people, it was really the only night that many people went shopping. The people didn't stop shopping often until 10:00, although I know that you don't find that real late to be shopping, we did back then."
"And what about music and dance, did you listen to a lot of jazz music when you were young?"
"Jazz music was becoming very popular when I was young, but my family felt that it was not a good influence upon us children, my father in particular felt that it made women overly promiscuous with these extravagant dances that were coming out. There were many people I knew at school however, who listened to a lot of jazz and loved to dance very lively."
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Works Cited
Lillian Stehly. Personal interview, February 19, 2008.